THE HUMAN INFLUENCE: Elephant Overpopulation in South Africa

http://www.gev.com/2011/07/the-number-of-elephants-in-africa-halved-in-the-last-40-years/

The Situation at Hand

South Africa’s Kruger National Park is a premier wildlife reserve. Established in 1898, Kruger National Park is unsurpassed in the diversity of its species and is considered “a world leader in advanced environmental management techniques and policies” (Govindasamy). For years, the park has been kept and run well, “its animal husbandry is considered world-class, and the park even stopped culling elephants (killing them as a means of population control) in 1995, mostly because of international and local pressure” (Bell-Leask).

While elephant populations are thriving in South Africa due to years of successful conservation and the banning of the ivory trade, “Conservationists in some areas are now faced with a new challenge: overpopulation. Scientists and conservationists in Africa and globally believe that there are three solutions: translocation, culling, or contraception ...” (Wray). However, there is no one solution which can solve the problem of overpopulation right away, and is dilemma free and humane. This post is focused on the culling of elephants.

An elephant gazes skywards as a sharpshooter takes aim from his eyrie aboard a hovering helicopter. Photo © IFAW

“Culling is a cruel, unethical and a scientifically unsound practice that does not consider the welfare implications to elephant society as a whole,” says Jason Bell-Leask, IFAW’s Southern Africa Director. Furthermore, extensive culling could lead to a global loss of biodiversity. While South Africa may be experiencing growing populations of elephants, the rest of the world’s elephant population is threatened and decreasing. If too many elephants are killed off, their population may not be able to bounce back. Also, because South Africa is a major tourist destination due to its wildlife populations, South Africa's tourism industry could collapse if too many elephants are lost.

http://www.cafepress.com/+no_elephant_cull_ornament_round,129348474

Richard Leakey's Opinion - One of the World's Most Respected Conservationists

There isn't a single person in the world that wants to see the elephants culled, but there may be little option. The Kruger is a finite size, and there are many people living around its edges. In an ideal world, elephants would roam free wherever they choose, but that ignores the reality of life, and a burgeoning human population. Some elephants will cross into Mozambique and other wild places, but as the population keeps growing there, there is simply just not enough room in South Africa for all the elephants. A thousand years ago elephants roamed freely across the whole continent, and when their population reached high densities, some natural disaster, drought or famine, would occur to peg it back. However when the animals are restricted to a certain area, such as the Kruger, once they have denuded the park they will look outside at the copious farmland and village crops. Unfortunately, as terrible as it may seem, Wildlife Extra believes that there is probably no better way to manage the elephant numbers, though we would be delighted to hear from anyone who has a solution. (Provided by Wildlife Extra News)

http://zaragon.wordpress.com/2010/11/23/trumpet-blast-the-global-elephant-wars/

Many regions of the United States are overpopulated, yet we are not killing off people to reduce the environmental impact. I just feel that as a whole, mankind sucks. We are so quick to place ourselves before other life forms if we stand to benefit. I understand that elephants are massive creatures and greatly impact their environments, but I feel they deserve the right to live and procreate just as much as we do. Just because we have the power and means to control the fate of another species does not mean we should. The day our government condones culling people to lessen the environmental impact of the human population will be the day I agree it is justifiable to kill large sums of another species because of their impact. Just think of how many species would stand to benefit if many of us were gone. Something tells me the environment would not be too sad to see a good deal of the human population go.